The True Story Of The Key West Gold Bar Heist

[jeff of pa]

https://www.wlrn.org/news/2018-07-3...ay-half-million-in-restitution-to-keys-museum

 

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[Blak bart]

Very familiar with this story.....very cool.

 

[pepperj]

So they broke the case to get it out...

 

[RTR]

If you go Bring Kleenex for the drool

 

[RTR]

https://www.wlrn.org/news/2018-07-3...ay-half-million-in-restitution-to-keys-museum

Unless there's something I'm not seeing. That box doesn't look "theft proof" to me.Just turn the bar around in your hand and pull it straight out

 

[jeff of pa]

My Guess The Hole had to Be slightly widened To get the Correct angle.
It doesn't say anything I see but He probably Chipped away at the Hole Each time he Reached in .

I Bet they Corrected that Flaw After the Fact

20/20 Hindsight I Bet they wished they waited till 2020 to Do it
Masks and Makeup around the Eyes would have Helped

 

[RTR]

My Guess The Hole had to Be slightly widened To get the Correct angle.
It doesn't say anything I see but He probably Chipped away at the Hole Each time he Reached in .

I Bet they Corrected that Flaw After the Fact

20/20 Hindsight I Bet they wished they waited till 2020 to Do it
Masks and Makeup around the Eyes would have Helped

What they should a done was replace it w/a gold painted,lead copy.It would probably still be on display

 

[Red-Coat]

The box had been designed on “will the sofa fit through the door?” principles such that however you rotated the bar it wouldn’t go through the aperture. There was initial speculation that Johnson had figured out some clever geometric orientation that enabled the bar to be removed but, as said in the report above, he simply broke the case. I don’t think it was ever established exactly how he did this, and it was stated in court that he had used an “unknown” device or implement.

I had previously bookmarked a link to a CNN article which included a video showing close-ups of the damage to the case but, although the article is still there, the video link is dead. In several press reports, the case was variously described as plexiglass or acrylic (I think not, LOL). CNN reported it as constructed from three-eighths-of-an-inch thick Lexan bulletproof glass. I believe that to be correct, apart from Lexan being a polycarbonate resin in a technical sense but colloquially referred to as glass.

 

[jeff of pa]

perhaps a Dremel to weaken the plastic enough to bend it.
though I never checked how noisy that would be

 

[BillA]

if plastic of any type, there is a solvent that will soften, and accelerators
some are quite nasty
put on a rag and let set, 3/8" does not seem thick

 

[Gold Maven]

I was there, and held that bar years ago, I thought it was very cool that they allowed you to handle what we dream of.

there was no way to remove it, and a security guard watched me the whole time, with a little smile on his face.

 

[RTR]

I was there, and held that bar years ago, I thought it was very cool that they allowed you to handle what we dream of.

there was no way to remove it, and a security guard watched me the whole time, with a little smile on his face.

Then He must a been asleep LOL

 

[Red-Coat]

 

[dognose]

A "small portion of the bar was recovered"

The rest likely melted down long ago and sold off.

 

[jeff of pa]

A "small portion of the bar was recovered"

The rest likely melted down long ago and sold off.

Or they Cut a Small Piece off to throw off the Authorities
then Buried the Rest for when they Get out.
That would be what I'd consider if I were in that Position.
Gotta have something to fall Back on

 

[Red-Coat]

Subsequent to the arrest of Johnson and Goldman, the museum's director of archaeology, Corey Malcolm, said he had seen one small piece of the bar, recovered by the FBI. Judging from that piece, he believes the bar was split down the middle, lengthwise and then chopped up laterally into bits - probably about 30 pieces.

He said in 2018 that the museum had no current plans to display that one remaining piece, adding: “I guess, technically, it belongs to the insurance company. They paid the claim on it. Now what they want to do with it, I don’t know. I hope they’ll donate it back to us as a tax write-off.”

 

[mts]

Or they Cut a Small Piece off to throw off the Authorities
then Buried the Rest for when they Get out.
That would be what I'd consider if I were in that Position.
Gotta have something to fall Back on

Let's not start yet another "buried treasure" story. I think the world already has enough of those to keep the treasure hunters busy for the next 100 years.

 

[BillA]

an unknown Templar site, amazing